There aren’t many jobs that wake you up at 3 a.m. in the winter, then throw you into a room that’s over 1,000 degrees only to finish with you back in bed a couple of hours later. One job that can is firefighting.
At Sinclair Community College, one of the programs being offered is the Fire Science Technology Program, which is located in Building 20. In this program students will learn every aspect of the field including fire protection, fire prevention and fire investigation.
Frank Clay, professor/chairperson of the Fire Science Technology program said that they focus on building both great firefighters and great people.
“This is a job where you have to be physically tough, but just as tough mentally as well,” Clay said. “Because of that we just can’t teach someone the facts about firefighting, but work on personal things like team building as well.”
Clay, who is a former firefighter himself, said that the firehouse is not just a place where you work and are surrounded by co-workers but somewhere that you learn to treat people like family.
“You don’t just work a nine to five and then go home to your family with firefighting,” Clay said. “You’re together 24 hours at a time, 3 times a week. You cook with your co-workers, sleep with them, watch the game among other things. You learn their in and outs.”
The Fire Science Technology program offers various state certification programs, which include firefighter I and II and state fire instructor.
The difference between firefighter I and II is the amount of training hours needed to achieve rank. You need at least 120 training hours to become a firefighter I and 240 to become a firefighter II, according to Clay.
They also offer two associate degree programs. One of the programs is known as the Fire Science Technology program.
“This is your more engineering based program dealing with fire prevention,” Clay said. “The focus of the program is to get people more involved in the design and technical part of fire prevention. Within this degree students will learn how to design different fire prevention tools like sprinkler systems.”
The other associates degree offered is the Fire Science Technology Fire Administration Option. Graduates with this degree begin working as firefighters, fire officers, investigators, instructors, managers and administrators, according to Clay.
“These are the more ‘traditional’ firefighters that everyone can identify with,” Clay said. “These are the ones everyone sees, the ones that come to your house and help you when there is a problem.”
Clay said that the nature of firefighting is tough and that at any time, day or night, you will be called upon and expected to help.
“One of the first things I tell students is that people are not calling us because they just want to say hi or good job, they’re calling us be
cause they are having the worst day of their lives,” Clay said. “We have to stay on top of things or else we can’t properly serve people.”
Fire Science program helps people become firefighters and beyond
